jay the vigilante wannabe cop

on 94.3 FM radio tonight, on my way home, i heard... a most disturbing man talking about his coalition of citizen police stopping traffic via flares and single lanes to forcefully remove bush/cheney, u.s. veteran, and american flag bumper stickers from citizens' automobiles in an effort to:

1) stop terrorists from targeting these individuals in their cars
2) stop terrorists from targeting our city

needless to say, citizens were calling the radio station to complain about jay's actions, and jay was insulting these individuals, provoking them, and generally being unwilling to listen to anyone...

in my opinion, i wonder why jay and his vigilantes have not stripped military personnel of their uniforms in an effort to protect them and us in the charleston area from terrorists' attacks... after all, which is more likely to provoke a terrorist - a little red, white and blue bumper sticker or a man or woman in uniform?

sheesh - what a nut... and he claimed that he was going to vote for kerry...

enticement that leads to death

it seems that a married woman found someone to whom she was drawn, i suppose in that magnetic way that the opposite sex sometimes draws us, and decided to be honest with her husband by telling him, "i want a divorce."

when her shocked husband asked why? she replied, "because i am going to have a new relationship."

needless to say, her husband gave her the divorce; and the woman, in her honesty, tried out the new fella and subsequently married him... and she is supposedly happily married at present to the guy for whom she chose to leave her husband...

and while listening to this engaging story, i hear through that small, still voice in my head "evil desire breeds enticement which in turn breeds temptation that, when it is full grown, gives birth to sin, which leads to death..." : a paraphrase of james, the lord's brother...

echinoids from so. carolina quarry

four echinoids found at giant cement near harleyville, so. carolina... giant cement is now closed to fossil hunters due to a magnificent find of prehistoric sabertoothed tiger remains...

selective service denies re-instatement of draft

amazing to me that some earlham college parents ... are considering frightening our children who are presently attempting to further their growth through higher education...by encouraging the school's administration to "educate" the students about the draft and its possible re-instatement... please realized that the selective service has recently distributed this statement:

"Notwithstanding recent stories in the news media and on the Internet, Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces – either with a special skills or regular draft. Rather, the Agency remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the President and the Congress so direct. This responsibility has been ongoing since 1980 and is nothing new. Further, both the President and the Secretary of Defense have stated on more than one occasion that there is no need for a draft for the War on Terrorism or any likely contingency, such as Iraq. Additionally, the Congress has not acted on any proposed legislation to reinstate a draft. Therefore, Selective Service continues to refine its plans to be prepared as is required by law, and to register young men who are ages 18 through 25."

source: www.rathergate.com

"cannon fodder" college students

an alarm is sounding at earlham among some parents... seems that a rumor is floating around that the draft is coming back... that men and women will equally be called to serve, that canada will be closed, that disabilities won't matter, and that our collegiate children will be "cannon fodder" as one parent wrote...

oddly, i thought that it was kerry who was calling for 40,000 additional troops without indicating from where these troops would come... perhaps he plans to start the draft and take college students, the disabled, and men and women over to iraq before finding a solution and bringing them home...

maybe if we as americans supported our troops financially and spiritually, then iraq would gain freedom, we would remain safer, and our children could stay in the colleges of their choices...

i don't know... but, as for me, i am supporting "w", the president...

christian view of marriage

check one christian view out at dan mayfield's blog:

http://aconqueringfaith.blogspot.com/2004/09/upholding-design-of-marriage.html#REF

at least kerry's hair is not green

john kerry and an oompa loompa from the world of dahl and the chocolate factory... kerry is looking rather orange

credit: www.blogsforbush.com

divorce is perhaps a spiritual plague?

i remember moving into a house that had been previously occupied by a couple in the throes of divorce... i remember "feeling" like a creature of some sort was lodged in the chimney top behind the head of our bed... a bizarre "feeling" i admit wholeheartedly... but, i recall praying anyway that the lord would hold or banish whatever that thing was from our new home...

the "feeling" remained for awhile... but, we only lived in that house for 6 months... and it was our first house...

our 2nd house had none of those "feelings" but the couple before us seemed to be extraordinarily angry people... and i remember that anger seemed to haunt our relationship there in that particular house... again, i recall praying for the lord to check that spirit of anger in me especially...

now, in our 3rd house, i believe that primarily the spirit of the lord is here... at least, now... presently... and i continuously praise our father god in heaven for this active presence of his holy spirit...

edisto beach at the end of summer season

one of my "children" on edisto beach south of charleston, so. carolina... with me and my better/other half (who, of course took the photograph) ...we were hunting fossils, but found a whole sand-dollar, and several very pretty, white shells to make a going-away-to-college shadow-box for my other "child"... a lovely evening walk at the ocean... toward the end of summer season...

an e-mail from my mom

Below is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later.

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one
at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover
that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other
for helping others."

If you share this with another woman, something good will happen . . .

bees ferry road and glen mcconnell -- traffic hell

oh my goodness, i heard on the local news tonight... that a new supercenter walmart is going up at the corner of narrow bees ferry and glen mcconnell parkway... oh, my goodness... the traffic nightmare gets worse...

how can the low country, the greater charleston, so. carolina area continue along this insane trend? without any thought of the already extraordinary traffic mess in the mornings and evenings as we each struggle to work and back home again...?

mass rapid transit is the only answer if we mean to keep developing... and if we desire not to come to a complete standstill very soon...

mayor riley... what are you thinking?

come on, citizens, get a voice...

consider joining club for growth

if you liked reagan and want to learn about and support good, decent, and smart candidates, please consider joining... club for growth at www.clubforgrowth.org

atlantic ocean dying

the atlantic ocean, according to a recent federal study, is... indeed dying... the fish populations are down, the "balance" of the water is off, and it is a dirtier body of water than it was... when?... not sure...

however, contrary to my earlier post about the snow in so. indiana being white now, the foam which washes up with the waves here in the low country of so. carolina is not as pretty white as it once was... at least, as it is in my memory of childhood on the florida coast...

the federal commission that completed the study made over 200 recommended changes... in how we treat our ocean(s)...

my conception & rewards of great literature

my father writes in his latest e-mail of my conception:

"I am reading James Joyce's ULYSSES, nearing the end after almost six months of plowing along. Well on page 736 I learn that Leopold Bloom married on 8 October 1888 and his first child was born on your birthday, 15 June but in 1889, not 19--. He confesses to having had pre-marital intercourse with his wife, Molly on 10 September, 1888, which leaves just about nine months before the birth date. Ergo, it would seem that you were probably conceivedon or about September 10, 19--, which was about 65 days after sweet Barbara and I tied the knot. Isn't this a marvelous coincidence? Ah, literature, how vast are its rewards."

Dad

(...no, i have not updated my profile to show both my year of birth or my true age...)

tenebaum vs. deMint in the so. carolina election

Right Now, A Tax on Consultants Must Sound Pretty Good to Inez
From John Fund’s WSJ Political Diary:

The campaign gurus for Inez Tenenbaum, South Carolina’s Democratic contender for the Senate, must be wondering where they’ve gone wrong. For weeks now they’ve been whacking GOP competitor Jim DeMint over the head for proposing a consumption tax that would allegedly represent a 23% tax bite on the food, drugs and rent paid by poor people and middle-class families. Yet Rep. DeMint continues to lead Ms. Tenenbaum in the polls. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to her advisers that Mr. DeMint is only too happy to go 10 rounds over taxes.

Mainstream Democrats shy away from the subject, in part because they know their own higher-tax philosophy is at odds with the vast majority of voters. But Ms. Tenenbaum and Co. thought they could score a few points against Mr. DeMint over a proposal to replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax. Her critique, of course, overlooks the offsetting elimination of the taxes that are already implicitly priced into the cost of goods and services.

Worse, voters have been given an excuse to learn something about Mr. DeMint, namely that he has defined his House career as a big-thinking tax pioneer. Ms. Tenenbaum’s attack has only guaranteed attention for his argument about the urgency of cutting the overall tax burden, simplifying the code, increasing the percentage of taxes actually collected and making the system more equitable.

The South Carolina media has dutifully followed Ms. Tenenbaum’s lead and turned taxes into a big talking point. Voters have learned, for instance, that Mr. DeMint recently authored a bill (and collected more than 100 co-sponsors) to set up an independent commission to look into overhauling the tax code. Besides a consumption tax, he’s spoken favorably of the flat-tax option as well. How could giving this topic airtime fail to help a Republican?

Now that’s she’s raised the subject, her own tax past has returned to haunt Ms. Tenenbaum too. She’s the one who now must defend past support for a boost in the state sales tax, plus explain why she doesn’t have a tax reform plan of her own. At least for now, tax policy is getting a whole new high profile in the South Carolina race, perhaps to the Tenenbaum campaign’s chagrin.

— Kim Strassel
Posted by Andrew Roth, reposted here at toothdigger's comeback by me...emphasis by me...

iran negotiating with syria for iraqi nuclear scientists

seems that saddam spirited away his 12 nuclear scientists to syria before the start of the u.s. invasion... read about this first hand at:

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/26/wiran26.xml

and read about smuggled out and hidden wmd at:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1162149/posts

1997 "the book of sharks" by richard ellis

from richard ellis : a great description of the mackerel shark (see cretolamna fossilized teeth below in an earlier post of mine)

"The porbeagle has several common names, including mackerel shark, bonito shark, and salmon shark, derived from its preying upon, rather than its resemblance to, these fishes. The value of Linnean binomial nomenclature is obvious in a situation like this; in one location it's a porbeagle, in another it's a salmon shark, and off the coast of Maine, it's a bluedog. If it's a shark with a conical snout, sharp, narrow teeth, a symmetrical tail, and a double keel at the base of the tail, it's Lamna nasus. That's if it's found in the Atlantic. If it's found in the Pacific, it is Lamna ditropis, the Pacific porbeagle. Ditropis, by the way, means "double keel," and nasus means nose, both of which refer to the salient characteristics of the species. This double keel is unique to the genus Lamna. The upper, wide keel is similar to that of the other mackerel sharks, but the second and smaller keel, located on the lower lobe of the tail fin itself, occurs only in the porbeagles.

There is no problem in differentiating the porbeagle and the great white--the white is usually lighter in color (but not white), while the porbeagle is usually a dark bluish or brownish gray above, fading to white below. It is often makos that are mistaken for porbeagles, but the mako is a more slender fish, and it is a rich blue color above. The porbeagle also has a white patch at the posterior base of the dorsal fin.

The teeth of the mackerel sharks are interesting for reasons other than their use as a genus determinant. Most sharks have teeth that differ in the upper and lower jaws. This differentiation is based on the separate functions that the jaws perform. The lower teeth are often narrower and more pointed, and they are used to pierce and hold the prey, while the broader serrated upper teeth are protruded, and the head is twisted, thus removing a bite of flesh. In other words, the sawlike edges of the upper teeth function as a knife, while the lower teeth serve to hold the prey, much in the manner of a person carving a roast with a knife and fork. (This arrangement presupposes a prey animal too large to be engulfed in one gulp.) In the jaws of the mako and the porbeagle, both the upper and lower teeth are narrow and smooth-edged, which would indicate that both sets are used for grasping and that the prey is swallowed whole. This is borne out by many studies of the stomach contents of mackerel sharks, which show many fish more or less undamaged, except for the stablike puncture wounds made by the teeth. The teeth of the porbeagle are pointed and narrow, and they differ from those of the mako by the presence of small cusps on either side of each tooth.

Porbeagles are pan-oceanic, having been reported in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, off England, Scotland, Iceland, Newfoundland, New England, and from corresponding latitudes in the southern hemisphere. All the porbeagles can be characterized as temperate or even coldwater species. This is one of the reasons that there have been no documented attacks on swimmers; even though the porbeagle is certainly capable, there are just not very many people in the waters where the porbeagle lives.

The reproduction and parurition of the porbeagle is thought to be similar to that of the mako.

Given its illustrious relatives, it is no wonder that the porbeagle has been given short shrift. The shark with the funny name has not been incriminated in unprovoked attacks on humane and it does not perform elaborate high jinks when it is hooked. It may appear to be the poor relation of the more flamboyant mackerel sharks, but it is a full member of the family, a swift and capable hunter. The porbeagle is not as deadly as the white or as graceful as the mako, but it is among the fastest swimmers in the sea, and therefore it ranks at the very peak of the food chain. It is the "top predator" in its own territory. "

Source: The Book of Sharks by Richard Ellis

when i was young in southern indiana

more political musings... i remember in southern indiana in the late 60s... waking in the morning to brown snow... and being appalled and even fearful... i know that many women in the community of hanover college on a bluff above the ohio river... down from cinci, ohio... down from cliffy falls power plant with its tall smoke stacks always pumping out black smoke, have died of various forms of cancer over the years that my family has called hanover home... i know that i am glad that i have moved away... not that pollution does not follow us all everywhere... still, it does seem that the ohio valley is still known as cancer alley... and this cancer, at least on the hanover college campus, seems to affect women more than men... how is this even possible? is it because these women are at home more, outside in gardens more... i have no idea...?

this musing goes back to the idea that somehow "W" the president is responsible for any bad that exists in america and perhaps in the entire world...

...all that i know is that pollution is less visible now than when i was a young person...

i know that lake erie is cleaner now than when my other/better half was a young person...

i know that the snow that will fall this winter in southern indiana will be white, not brown...

froggy ruminations

i keep finding out there in the blogosphere sites that express my opinions about john kerry, in language stronger than i would care to use... nevertheless, you may want to check it out at:
http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com/2004/09/tell-our-troops-to-f-off.html

cohabitation, fatherlessness, and illegitimacy

still reading william j. bennett's book the broken hearth: reversing the moral collapse of the american family...

some tidbits from chapter III ... i looked back at the title bennett gave the section of his book and low and behold, it is called "cohabitation, illegitimacy and fatherlessness" ... so i ask his acceptance of the title of my little blog, and his indulgence as i quote him...

a. "widepread cohabitation delivers, in practice, nothing of what it promises in theory... it undermines lasting attachments, mutual obligations, successful child-rearing, and sexual fidelity... and it undermines our belief in them...what it offers instead is a kind of institutionalized adolescence: a dream of free love..." (p. 81)

b. "from the proponents of cohabitation we hear that the state has no business interfering in people's private lives... the answer... is that the state has a manifest interest in promoting the kind of stability that rests on sound marriages and strong families. and so does each one of us..." (p. 81)

c. "illegitimacy is a major killer of american children...birth certificates lacking a father's name were strong predictors of infant death... even when they survive infancy, children born out of wedlock are more likely... to die young, to live in poverty, to be on welfare, to perpetuate a crime, to commit suicide, to drop out of the labor force, to leave school, and to have illegitimate children themselves..." (p. 83)

d. "not nearly enough fathers are meeting their commitments to their children... is that a reason to devalue fatherhood even more...' (p. 90)

e. "men and women bring different, complementary traits to child-rearing, and these differences... are not mere social constructions but are rooted in biology and the natural order of things... fathers... protect their children from the world... and protect the world from their children... are sources of discipline and strength, respect and admiration... the manly virtues..." (p. 91)

here, here...
support your family... work, play, pray, and go to church together...

rick brady's stones-cry-out blog

an interesting blog about "unique traffic" and the trust it may generate for the message some of us are spreading regarding such issues as cbs, rather, and kerry connections... check it out at:
http://stones-cry-out.blogspot.com/

hanna on beachwalker

"my goodness... it sure is windy and hot out here on the seashore... this is great..."

president "w" and senator kerry side by side

"W" the president at work on the ranch

a wonderful photo of our president at work and his campaign rival, kerry at play discovered and enjoyed with other photographs at: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/blog/archives/014570.php

google search for shark teeth and other fossils from the carolinas

if you are looking for a site called shark teeth and other fossils from the carolinas, when talkcity went bust, defunct, whatever and msn failed to notify, the site up and died an untimely death...

keep looking here at toothdigger's comeback to find fossils from the low country and the carolinas, as well as other items of less interest to those of you who are into fossils like the toothdiggers...

looking for a stud bichon frise

i want to breed my bichon frise... in the greater charleston, so. carolina area... she is a small dog, only around 8.5 lbs. so i need a small male... she is flawed, i admit... she has a little tad of white around her right eye when she looks straight ahead, but she has grey halos, and her skin is mottled and she has two coats, and her feet, nose, eye linings, and mouth lining are all black... and she carries her tail correctly... and she is to standard size...

just comment if you have a stud for her... be sure to include your fee or your desire for a puppy or two...

thanks....

fondue night

no fondue because we came too early... to fast 'n french but we had a nice time and good conversation... good wine and food, then a great walk down to the pineapple and swings near the harbor... for more good talk... then the walk back to my car... and more good talk...

a very nice time...

thanks to my friend... sue... who is off to a high school reunion this weekend... hope she has fun and memories worth remembering, so to speak...

whirlwind living

besides blogging lately, life has... been made up of work, driving both the interstate and the back scenic highway 61, playing a bit of pikman 2, watching fox news, the weather channel, cbs evening news, cnn news, headline news, and msnbc news... yes, i watch a lot of news...

i remember never liking mike wallace or 60 minutes, so i do not watch that on sunday nights or the other 60 minutes on whatever night it airs...

again, sun is shining... and i am going to fast 'n french tonight with a colleague/friend... fondue night, if i recall correctly...

did you know it's bush's fault

bush seems to be to blame for just about all that is wrong in america today... it seems w. bush is to blame for rampant murder of police, abuse of medicare and medicaid, lack of insurance for the poor and hispanic, the oil shortage and the abuse of the "food for oil" program, global warming and hurricanes, the destruction of the natural environment, and over-logging of forest lands...

a lot of bad has happened in the last 4 years! sheesh!

i guess clinton didn't abuse his secretaries and aides, didn't lie to his spouse and to the american people, didn't ignore signs that terrorists were growing in power and number, didn't ignore signs of ocean death throes, didn't fail to protect the unborn and the abandoned and abused children of poverty and divorce... didn't keep illegal aliens from overburdening our medical system...

and i guess kerry isn't the most liberal democrat ever!

gone red

saturday, as a surprise present for my better/other half, and just for fun... i went with red (copper) highlights in my dark brown hair... so, i am a short, red-head with blue eyes... today, anyway...

first hand information on and from iraqi people

http://iraqibloggersroundup.blogspot.com/

sky captain and the world of tomorrow

a disappointment... this movie was at first a feast for the eyes as the camera pans over the cg city of new york and the towering machines march into the streets, and then... as the camera leaves the city, the work begins to fail not only the eyes (the world looks flat) but the mind's eye... imagination fails to be unique... with the film paying homage to other films but also stealing from them... the recognizable, all too recognizable leap away from the explosion... has gotten really old for me...

jolie is odd as an english commander, judd law is a dull rock hudson, and paltrow is just pale...
only ribisi captured me fully... what a quirky "good boy" and "i can do it cap; just 30 seconds is all i need"...

see this movie, but do not expect a lot... oh, i did relish old photographs of a young sir lawrence olivier...

cretolamna biauriculata

the labial or lip and cheek side of the mackerel shark tooth...found, as the other one, in a golf course construction site in west ashley, so. carolina in summer, 2004...

cretolamna biauriculata

also a cretolamna biauriculatis or mackerel shark tooth found close to the other one... this is the side of the tooth that faces the tongue...

genesis 32: 22-32

yes, jacob wrestled all night with god in the form of man, demanding a blessing ... god dislocated jacob's hip so that he limped from then on, and also commanded jacob to change his name to israel... and god also blessed jacob for his persistence...

wrestling with GOD

jacob had his hip broken... if i have my old testament history correct, which i may not have actually... but i do remember that he wrestled with god, telling the lord that he would not let go until god had blessed him or given him what he asked...

seems sort of arrogant... or persistent... or determined...

i can't remember... did jacob get what he wanted; and was what he wanted actually what he needed?

i will definitely check out the story in the old testament... i feel like i am wrestling with god right now, asking him for a particular blessing and holding onto that demand, prayer, whatever... and maybe god is getting ready to break me, too...

cretolamna biauriculata

the labial side, otherwise known as the cheek and lip side, of a mackerel shark tooth... ( i think...) found at a golf course construction site recently in west ashley, so. carolina...

cretolamna biauriculata

the lingual, otherwise known as the tongue, side of the same mackerel shark tooth...

cross creek quarry find

a beautiful mako shark tooth found in the now closed and reclaimed cross creek quarry outside eutawville, so. carolina...

whale watching in maine last summer

cold summer maine whale watching excursion with ship's headlight creating a glowing arc in the fog... we managed to spot several whales, all of them fairly distant from us...

moral collapse of the family

reading william j. bennett's the broken hearth: reversing the moral collapse of the american family... this morning while waiting for my hair highlights to "cook" and while eating a waffle at our local waffle house...

i quote: "as usual, our founding fathers got things just about right. capitalism, they saw, was a crucial component in sustaining a liberal, democratic society. but there were also certain human qualities that needed to be disciplined, tamed, and checked: avarice, excessive individualism, the tendency to reduce everything to the economic bottom line, the danger of being entrapped by the enchantments of this world.
'will you tell me how to prevent riches from producing luxury?' john adams asked thomas jefferson. 'will you tell me how to prevent luxury from producing effeminacy, intoxication, extravagance, vice and folly?'

the family, it was believed by our founders, would serve as something of a counterbalance to the free market by anchoring people in a different set of values... but today, the values of the market have encroached on the separate sphere of family life. as christopher lasch pointed out, when money becomes the universal measure of value, then motherhood, which after all is unpaid labor, will come to bear the stigma of social inferiority. more broadly, the values of capitalism, with the premium it places on acquisition, competitiveness, "creative destruction," "rational choice," innovation, and self-interest, are often incompatible with and may even be antithetical to the qualities important to marriage and family life -- sympathy and deep devotion, patience and restraint, the deferral of gratification, loyalty, and the willingness to lay aside self-interest." (bennett, wj, p. 16)

now, bennett is not saying that he is anti-capitalism; he is saying that the nuclear family is essential as that counterbalance to the evils of human nature leading to a corruption of the capitalistic system...

the family, says bennett, must be preserved and defended in america... and in the rest of the world as well...

a good read... highly recommended...

grasshopper terrarium

a grasshopper "collected" by one of my "children", placed in a backyard terrarium with grasses and soil... an outgrowth of a lifelong interest in insects, beginning with mosquitos, graduating to ants, and now...

certified schoolteacher waiting tables

"i figured it out, and i think i make more money waiting tables here than i would as a first year teacher." so said our waiter this evening at olive garden in no. charleston, so. carolina...

"and, i also feel that i'm not ready to teach because i got burned-out student teaching last year, and felt i should take a semester off because i don't want to do a half-way job with somebody else's children... my mother doesn't understand this..."

and i said, "well, i do. i think that makes sense... i think as a mother myself, I appreciate that you don't want to do a half-way job with children"...

our waiter wants to teach chorus in middle school... "that's my specialty," he told us somewhat sheepishly... with a big smile and a bit of a twinkle in his eye, i thought...

wonderful aspects of being a speechie

one of the wonderful aspects of being a speech language pathologist is... being able to give a person, who is hooked to a ventilator that breathes for him or her, a way to communicate with those who love him or her...

a little piece of plastic that has a one-way valve that opens with the ventilator breath, then closes with the ventilator exhalation cycle so that the air travels up through the vocal cords as voice and out through the mouth as speaking...

or a larger piece of plastic that is a computer that talks for the person... with words and pictures that may be selected by an infra-red head pointer the size of a small dot and placed between the eyebrows... or may be selected by the wisp of a touch by the thumb or the movement of the eyebrow itself...

both methods may be used in conjunction with each other for the benefit of the person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or lou gehrig's disease...

sometimes, i love being a speechie...

more on fossil hunting

fossil hunting is a great hobby here... in our small city are drainage canals that course throughout the area... in some of these, no fossils are found or at least very few... in one especially we have discovered...

the coveted megalodon
horse and bison teeth
a variety of broken and complete (with some damage) shark teeth

the days of finding these fossils on the bottom of this canal are gone... now, we dig and sift while in waders with shovel and sieve in hand...

what fun...

sharing is caring

from my heart comes...a natural desire to share a central belief...

1) the sad, inherent evil in human beings
2) the love of god for human beings
3) our desperate need to be close to god, our creator
4) the only way to accomplish that intimacy with god
5) god's immense sacrifice to accomplish no. 4
6) our surrender to god's will
7) our ability to love god, ourselves, and others because of no. 4, no. 5,
and no. 6 particularly

remember, caring is sharing...

"burn-out" man by hmk, my "child"

...a computer drawing by one of my "children" of a burned-out character-soldier...
hmk 2004

2 books at barnes and noble with coffee

noticed two books at barnes and noble tonight... one by john kerry my vision for america written in first person, of course, and stating the reasons he wants to be the president and the challenges he will face in fixing our nation... the other edited by someone else and quoting entire speeches given by president bush since his election in 2000 called president bush speaks to america...

i noticed that kerry's book was 12 dollars and published by penguin... the book containing a selection of bush's speeches was 10 dollars and was published by a lesser known (at least to me) publishing house...

of course, i did not read either of these books in their entirety... i skimmed a few passages written by kerry, and i read the speech that president bush made on september 20, 2001 as he declared "war on terrorism" and talked about the identity of our attackers as being a loose connection of terrorists organizations...

i also noticed that kerry's book was introduced with a description of his service in vietnam and his "2 tours of duty" in the mekong delta with his silver star, bronze star, and 3 purple hearts prominently mentioned after his 4 terms of service in the u.s. senate...

the back cover of the bush book had a variety of comments from such places as the online journal slate, and other journals that i am failing to recall at this moment... all reviews were glowing in terms of president bush's eloquence and ability to rivet his audience(s)...

i would have purchased both books, but cash flow is tight... and i imagine the contents of both books is pretty much in the public domain (internet) somewhere...

letter from "child" at earlham college

from indiana comes a letter... from our youngest "child" who is a freshman at earlham college... who writes, "thanks for the various snacks... thank you for spending the (expletive) loads of money it has cost to send me this stuff... i'm having a really great time here...thank you guys for sending me here...it's a lot of fun! love you, guys!"

the happiness i feel for my college bound "child" is hard to describe, even hard to believe... i am so happy for this person of mine that i have not been sad...

japanese, ecological biology, rock climbing, mini model united nations, earlham seminar... and new friends...

wow...

resident evil: apocalypse

i can't help it... i liked resident evil and i think i liked apocalypse even more this past weekend...

milla jovovich is a striking figure, literally... and the zombies wondering racoon city in slovenly packs are just funny creepy...

great escapist theatre... and that's about all there is to that...

(my rating: "r" for nudity...)

syria tests chemical weapons

according to an article in die welt by jacques schuster...syria and the sudanese government discussed the use of chemical weaponry against the troubling members of the sudan people's liberation army... however, because the sudanese government was negotiating peace with the spla in khartoum simultaneously with these plans to attack, the two governments decided to cooperatively test their chemical weapons on the black population in darfur in june of this year. dozens of people became sick and died... of injuries determined to be caused by chemical armament...

check it out at http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/

captain ed strongly suggests that these weapons of mass destruction must have come from iraq...

2-1-1 trident united way

2-1-1 trident (greater charleston, s.c. area) united way seeks... volunteer crisis counselors... as heard on the radio and as received via postcard yesterday... training provided...

call 843 747 3007 for more information...

as far as i know, you can volunteer as much or as little as you like... but check it out for yourself...

interstate 26 eastbound at a standstill

as stated the other day on this very blog... interstate 26 inbound to charleston, so. carolina came to a complete standstill for more than an hour, according to the radio stations this morning...

i slept in, getting up too late to get caught in that bog of cars... so, at 7:45 or so, as i was rushing along the interstate highway towards bright red tail lights of stopped or stopping traffic ahead ... i heard a female announcer confidently state on the radio, "... the traffic appears to be moving better than it has all morning..."

i laughed as i started my notorious early braking to avoid the crush of cars from behind and give myself a cushion ahead... a long standing, very good habit here...

i just hate to tail gate...

and, here i go again... we need a rapid transit system to get us to work and back to home again...

john kerry 19 years of senate service

over 19 years in the senate, has kerry contributed anything of significance to our law, our country...? has he been a leader of note? how can a man who appears unable to lead his campaign, lead our country?

what difference does it make that he served honorably for 4 months in vietnam 35 years ago?

what has this man done lately?

"theme" of one of my favorite books

the theme of his novel is, in his words, "... an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. the moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. the whole book is symbolic in nature except the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island. the officer, having interrupted a man-hunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same implacable way. and who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?" william golding on his novel lord of the flies (p189, notes, 1954, 1955).

william golding attended oxford university to study science, but after two years, changed to english literature. he then published a volume of poems, wasted 4 years, then as world war 2 exploded in europe, joined the royal navy and served for 5 years, ending as a lieutenant in command of a ship in action against battleships, submarines and aircraft (e. l. epstein, notes).

i have read all of golding's novels... each one is wonderful... but lord of the flies is definitely his best work...

vital-stim and functional swallowing

the functional swallow is an event that everyone all over the world takes absolutely for granted until it is impaired... then, a person is so totally confounded by its absence or malfunction...

to not eat, or to have difficulty with eating is... to say the least, devastating...

so, now that i am certified in neuromuscular electro-stimulation (nmes) of the swallow musculature, i am at a loss to explain to myself the lack of the equipment to perform the exercises...

to learn, to gain knowledge... implies requirement to do what one knows works...

so hard to disagree

i find disagreeing with people whom i love very difficult... i have always been so anxious to please that i have disregarded my own ideas, my own opinions, my own beliefs very often... in the face of individuals, especially my family, who are so important to my life...

what is that called? self-denial or stupidity? don't really know...

i do know that deep in my heart, i believe that the war in iraq is justified... as world war 2 was justified... despite the many deaths, the many heartaches, the many questions... and criticisms...

i know that these wars are not the same in nature, but in spirit i believe they are...

so, i am waving my american flag and saying again, "support our troops"... and our president...

shark vertebrae and tooth

shark vertebrae and carcharocles auriculatis shark tooth from the quarry walked this morning...

alligator tooth

an alligator tooth found this morning in a low country quarry...

carcharocles auriculatis

carcharocles auriculatis, a beautiful shark tooth found in the same quarry as the fossils mentioned in the earlier post...

fossil hunting

this morning while i worked, my better/other half hunted for fossils in a nearby quarry... finding several nice shark teeth, an alligator tooth, some shark vertebrae, and several fossils yet to be identified...

i shall endeavor to scan at least the alligator tooth this evening for a later post...

finally, some fossils for the toothdigger...

blue crab in living room

in florida, three days after hurricane frances, my friend's mother found... in the center of her living room floor a flailing blue crab...

i wonder if it flew into a screenless window during the height of the storm's wind velocity... hid out in a corner or under a couch, later to crawl helplessly in search of ocean waves...

cat hunter

my bichon frise nearly flying out the window on a long trip to maine

two cats atop a car

this evening, i pulled into my driveway after... a bit of necessary shopping, and atop my better/other half's car, sitting on the roof itself, were two tan cats with faded racoon tails!

now, this is a disaster... i know immediately for our household already has 4 cats...

so, true to my nature, i get out of my car, get down low as both cats leap from atop the car, and say in a sweet, motherese voice, "hi there kitty" and to my horror, one of the cats comes right to me...

and i think, well wasn't that stupid...

so, i go inside and get my bichon frise, my white fluffball of a dog who is already barking in the front window, and i say to my precious dog of only 8.5 lbs. "come on, come on; let's scare away some kitties". .. and my dog says in dogese: "oh oh oh yes, let me kill the kitties!"

so, we go outside; my bichon on a leash and me in tow... and with one little yapping bark, those two cats take off... but, one stops, looks back in a forlorn manner as if to say, "i thought you were a nice human"...and, ignoring this plea for company, i egg my dog on... "come on, come on" ; and she barks again... and off go the cats with me yelling sweetly, "that's right, go on home. don't come back here. we've got too many cats; go on now; we don't want you."

"good girl," i say to my bichon frise cotton ball dog; and we go back inside without two new cats to feed and clean up after...

church-going

this sunday morning, i attended bible study at beautiful savior lutheran church www.beautifulsavior.us on old trolley road in summerville, so. carolina...

we drew maps of the ancient biblical world on blank paper... and learned much about the lay of the lands...

then, my family joined me (except for our "child" at earlham college in indiana www.earlham.edu) to worship, and listen to pastor jon hein speak quite eloquently on idolatry and its real dangers both in elijah's time and in our times...

and now, at home, the sun has broken through heavy rain burdened clouds to shine up our day...

and i am going to eat some lunch... and maybe, have a traditional day of rest...

not that i did not remember the towers falling

on september 11th, i was attending an all-day certification workshop for vitalstim NMES swallowing therapy... so, although i did remember the tragic events of that day three years ago i did not post any thoughts about those events yesterday...

this morning, the towers falling were nearly the first thing that came to mind as i awoke... i, like all of us, remember exactly where i was and what i was doing when the first airliner crashed into the world trade center... i remember glancing at the television in a patient's room, then returning to the meeting in which i was a participant...

and later, seeing the second airliner as it crashed into the second tower...

i believe there have only been two other tragic events that i have seen on television as they happened ... the first was a helicopter blade misfiring or deteriorating and striking the persons exiting the craft... the second was one of the wallendas falling from a tightrope wire strung between two buildings... both times, i was enraged that the television showed these events... because, of course, these events were tape delayed... i was indeed seeing them as they happened, but at a later time... and, i believed then and still believe that the news media was amiss in showing these events without warning to its consumers...

but, on september 11th, 2001 the event was captured as it happened...

so, seeing the second tower fall was extraordinarily different... this was indeed live television in a way i hope we never experience again...

for those who lost a loved one, a friend, a co-worker... we will never forget...

after a hurricane near charleston

after hurricane frances ...at beachwalker park, taking photographs of surf for later "pastel" drawings...

most beautiful low country

as to the beauty of the low country... on this topic, i could not agree more... i have been fortunate to have lived in various portions of the south, including arkansas, tennessee, north and south carolina, florida, and even mississippi... i have also lived in wisconsin, indiana, ohio, new mexico, and illinois...

and, it is safe and fair to say, that there is nowhere that compares to the beauty of the marshes around the ashley river, or to bull island's boneyard, or to the surf at beachwalker park, or to the shells of edisto island, or to the shark teeth and shark vertebrae that lie in the soil here...

nowhere else that i have lived has been so spectacularly gorgeous in the morning hours with the sun rising over the water which makes up the atlantic ocean in the distance...

nowhere has rain come and gone so fast...

i love the low country of so. carolina...

major projects in charleston area

looking at my first - wow- three comments on my new blog, and noting that... a comment from a dear friend of mine says basically, yeah a rapid transit system is a good idea, but sheesh, it will take so many years to develop, finance, and build that only my grandchildren will benefit...

and my response to my good friend, and to all others who happen by, is:

charleston needs a rapid transit system in the same way that it need(ed) the new bridge... and look; see how rapidly that new bridge is being built!

i am amazed. .. this big, beautiful project is way ahead of schedule... it is being constructed efficiently and with unprecedented safety. .. i believe that only one (and yes, one is too many) person has died in its construction, and that was because the worker failed to attach his safety line to the bridge so that the device could catch him when he fell...

my point: once charleston community gets behind an idea, a project that is BIG, MAGNIFICENT, and BENEFICIAL to all, the project gets completed rather quickly...

so, let's get together and get us a rapid transit system and park and ride...

second most congested city of its size in the u.s.a.

charleston, so. carolina through which i drive twice a day down and back up interstate 26 has been named in some national study, i suppose, as one of the most traffic burdened municipalities in the entire country for its size... what is terrible is that the average person in the greater charleston area supposedly spends at least 22 hours in his or her car in traffic delays... i happened to think that i spend approximately 520 hours a year in my commute to and from work...

now, no matter how one looks at that number of hours, that is a LOT of time to be in a car in nearly bumper to bumper traffic at least for a portion of those hours...

therefore, i would like to suggest that it is past time that the government authorities, i.e. the department of transportation and the mayors of the surrounding cities, develop a rapid transit system for the tri-county area that includes berkeley, charleston, and dorchester...

i know that there are others out there in the greater charleston area who feel the same...

it is time... we need an elevated, rapid transit train with a park and ride system throughout our counties...

without this rapid transit system, charleston will soon come to a complete standstill during "rush hours" and beyond them, according to this national study...

surely, we can make our voices heard, and get this problem fixed...

morning of darkness

it is a lovely morning of darkness... and i am getting ready to head out for an all day workshop/conference on a relatively new method of treating swallowing dysfunction... i am familiar with the theories behind this method... and believe them to be sound... so should be a pretty valuable, albeit long, day... sitting...

found article on couch

i located the "who needs harvard?' article in atlantic monthly in which... earlham college is indeed favorably mentioned as being a "little" school that produces more students who go on for doctorates than many elite "got to get in" schools such as harvard...

it is a nice comment, and one that earlham tells its candidates as well...

i did notice that my alma mater denison university in ohio was mentioned as one of those colleges one wants to get into, right below the elite elite schools... and in the same company as bowdoin and davidson... wow...

how nice...

meeting new people at fast 'n french

i don't get out enough, but tonight while... eating at fast 'n french on broad street in downtown charleston, i eavesdropped on an interesting conversation between a mature man and two young female college students...

he spoke of teaching as a labor of love, and they beamed their enthusiasm about college of charleston www.cofc.edu located approximately two to three blocks from broad... he asked them questions, and they asked him questions... he told them and others in the cafe that he had traveled into africa, lived in missouri, taught i thought i heard high school...

i read my 9/11 commission report on bin ladin and tried to concentrate while i sipped my red house wine and waited for my shrimp toast (good, by the way)...

after the young pretties (who were smart, too) left; he noticed my 9/11 book and said that he had just assigned it for his introduction to political science course at the college... how fascinating i found talking to him to be... reminded me of my childhood on college campuses such as arkansas state, university of wisconsin at madison, and hanover college in southern indiana - all at which my father was a professor of theatre at some level...

how i miss this talk... (unfortunately, i suppose, i did talk about my oldest "child" who is a sophomore at college of charleston... i both am glad of this and as always regret it too) ...

how i miss this willingness to share some tidbit of personal information with a total stranger... and so, possibly become friends... acquaintances, at least...

because, as i have mentioned before, at some level, people everywhere are alike...

who needs harvard?

i am reading a recent atlantic monthly article about higher education in america, and...i have heard from www.earlham.edu that the article favorably looks at earlham college in richmond, indiana... i must go back to the original magazine issue somewhere in my living room, and take a gander at that!

more on my political transformation

i see the republican party has become the party of the poorer person in america, the party committed to the downtrodden and the hard-working middle class america, the party looking to make each individual's contribution to our society appreciated and supported, the party not quite as committed to the environment when the environment becomes so important that the needs of a community are completely and unabashedly ignored...

i see george bush, and especially laura bush, as caring conservatives... who appeal to persons who are able and willing to give somewhat less than 200 dollars to the campaign...

who believe in america's greatness and her responsibility to freedom... for all...

9/11 commission report

i am reading the 9/11 commission report... about the events leading up to the planes being crashed into the world trade center towers and the pentagon and the lessons that we each had to learn as a result of those tragic events...

i am waiting for a phone call from my other/better half regarding his interview in mobile, alabama... wondering if the time there will be worth the time to get there and back home again... leaving the results, the outcomes in the lord's hands since his are so much better than ours... in terms of keeping us on track
safe
loving
trusting
happy, and on and on...

the day here is beautiful, with sun and wisps of cloud in a carolina blue sky field...

many a false step

and my oldest "child's" fortune cookie opened up to reveal: "many a false step is made by standing still."

off to mobile alabama

my better/other half is off...on the road for an interview with my prayers in tow for a safe trip and a good time by all involved... i trust that the lord will lead us into his wisdom and help us to avoid our own...

and later, after dinner with oldest "child", opening fortune cookie to reveal:

"Today it's up to you to created the peacefulness you long for"

how comforting to know that i have already created the peacefulness that i long for today... hmm...

political ramblings

well, this blog has transformed itself, having a definite mind of its own... into ramblings on various thoughts about the political scene. this morning i was surfing earlham college website at www.earlham.edu (the small liberal arts college where my youngest attends as a freshman this year) and read about an upcoming convocation during which a prominent news anchor of the past will present on his view of media and its influence on politics: what is a person to do? one of his major arguments will be against fox news with its flag waving and turgid (is that the word i want to use here?) patriotism... and i am thinking, what about msnbc and imus in the morning (which i do enjoy, by the way) and what of cnn's reporters "volunteering" for the kerry campaign? ah well... just my opinion, again...

and this afternoon, after futile attempts to publish this to my blog, i am wondering about blogger.com as well. who knows on which side of the political maelstrom this web entity comes down. still, i have read such a variety of posts and blogs, that it is hard to believe this blogger.com is anything but well-rounded...

turns out that blogger.com was having a publishing crisis as i am sure we all know...

rain is falling again... washing the earth of her own tears...

our 24th anniversary on labor day

happy 24th wedding anniversary to us... we now have been married 24 years, and we are just beginning to realize how very special that is... in this day and age, a long marriage seems to be rare... and ours has had its ups and some pretty significant downs; yet, through the power of the christ, we are surviving as a couple... despite some opposition...

i wish for all the same commitment that we have towards one another...

looking at chrenkoff.blogspot.com

learning about iraqi's desire for freedom...through aussie author chrenkoff... i highly recommend taking a look at his blog...

just my opinion...

so much for fossils... actually i do collect shark teeth and other fossils throughout the low country of south carolina... along with many others, i find teeth mostly in holes dug out by construction companies, especially those building neighborhoods with ponds... but also in quarries... when i can manage to get into one...

figuring out what i am doing

hello friends, family, visitors... i just discovered this palace of blog... being sort of old hat with the internet, i am wondering what i should say...

i have had a recent "friendly" disagreement with my longtime parents regarding the merits of bush vs. kerry. they lean heavily in favor of kerry while i lean heavily in favor of bush. perhaps i should qualify that they lean heavily against bush while i lean heavily in favor of bush and heavily against kerry.

i have discovered that for me kerry and the entire liberal media machine has been working in the broad daylight while i was i guess utterly asleep... i sure did not notice that they were duping me

just my opinion...